Chapter 210 Part 1: Closed Dungeon
They braved through hordes of monsters and traversed a great many difficult terrains in order to reach the portals to other worlds.
The 99th world was a world filled with more than a hundred in-world dungeons. "In-world" dungeons are exactly what they sound like—they're mini dungeons within a world connected to a much larger dungeon..
Due to the abundance of dungeons, the atmosphere was rich with mana and the world was filled with mana crystals growing nearly everywhere.
This makes communicating over long distances much easier for the two large groups (Daraia's rescue party and the students).
Even some of the creatures found in this world had crystals growing out of them, which is said to make them much stronger than those without the crystals. With their increased strength comes more aggressiveness so when encountered it always leads to a fight. That's why the group usually avoids confronting these types of monsters.
…
Arthur was currently walking down the hallway of an inn where they had spent the last few days. It was located in a dungeon city. There was a reason why they came to this small city and not go to the kingdom that lay west of here.
This same inn was located in a city that was located right next to a big dungeon. The city feeds off the minerals to procure wealth and sustain itself, essentially making it a Dungeon City.
Dungeon cities exist in their world too. The fief lords who own the dungeons mine the resources in order to sell it through the Magic Crystal market, which was one of the largest industries, behind military resources, oil, gold trade and Airship Manufacturing.
The last one has only recently become part of the largest industries since the minerals needed to craft airships had grown much cheaper when the industrial revolution took off. Due to the reduction of the minerals' prices, airships had become much cheaper, falling up to 73% to the total cost from the last decade.
Arthur had always wanted his own airship to travel the continent. Horse-drawn carriages are boring and takes way too long to reach far-off locations. Seeing the world from above would be a dream, especially if he gets to experience it with his sister.
Luckily his father agreed to buy him an airship if he graduates. That "if" would've been a "when" if only their final exam wasn't in this godforsaken dungeon…
Arthur knocked on one of the doors.
It was early morning so one would normally expect the residents to be asleep but Arthur knew the person whose room he came to was already awake.
"Come in."
Flora's tired voice came from the other side.
"Sorry for disturbing you this early, Miss Flora." Arthur opened the door and went inside.
"What is it?" Flora brushed off his apology, "As you can see, I'm in the middle of training."
"May I ask what kind of training?" Arthur had always wondered how Flora could be so strong despite only possessing body techniques and not any sort of martial arts or aura. Does she follow some kind of bizarre training schedule that destroys her body one day but makes it even stronger the next?
"I'm just keeping my body in shape with simple exercises."
That's really it…? What good will simple exercises do for someone as strong and fit as her?
Arthur caught himself staring in awe at her toned physique. She had muscular but skinny arms, toned abs, long legs with stiff calves and wide hips with a toned butt. No wonder the other boys were lusting after her. She was curvy in all the right places and next to zero body fat besides her slightly plump chest.
"What do you want?" Flora asked again, this time a little more annoyed. She probably caught him staring but obviously didn't care. Arthur had grown used to Flora being so comfortable around them, especially the men. If any of them tried to do something that she finds unpleasant then that's just them begging to lose a few teeth.
Flora wiped the sweat off her face with a towel and tossed it aside.
"I had a discussion with the professors and the Guild Master last night. From the information all of us gathered and the reports from local authorities, someone spotted a woman in this city walking around with a sword that gleamed with divine power. She was taller than nearly everyone in this city so she stood out a lot. People thought she was from some extinct divine race."
"The mysterious 'Lady Knight' who took the sword on the second floor…"
"Yes, the very same…"
The woman who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship and achieved godly strength. Of course, Arthur hadn't actually seen her power in full display but the fact that she could kill the Soul King with hardly any difficulty at all was a sign of how powerful she was.
"Where do you think she was headed?"
"The locals said that she was asking around taverns and markets if people know where she can find the Melis Temple."
"The Melis Temple? There's one in this world?"
"I believe so. It sounds like she's been to it before if she's asking about it."
"Yeah, but if so, she should be able to know where it is, no? Unless it's been hundreds of years since she last saw it?"
"That could be the case…"
She might be a demigod, someone who had lived thousands of years. A lot can change in that timeframe.
"We believe one of the dungeons has a relic tomb right underneath it."
That was their conclusion since no one is able to answer where it could be. There had been no official mention of relic tombs being discovered in this world (they've been asking around for several days now) so the natural conclusion would be that one of the dungeons have a relic tomb inside of it.
"A god's temple is what we're looking for… Hmm… That must be the kind of place that would be heavily guarded. Strange how it would be inside a dungeon though…"
From what Arthur learnt from history classes, divine disciples only build temples inside relic tombs. Building one such important structure inside a dungeon would be like building a king's throne inside a toilet and not a palace's throne room.
Of course, dungeons serve an important purpose besides its precious minerals—it produces mana into the atmosphere where none is present. Be that as it may, it's still a place riddled with savage monsters, whereas relic tombs are guarded by the same creatures created by its creator with the duty to guard the artifacts left behind by gods.
"Could it be a fake dungeon?"
Arthur nodded.
Fake dungeons are structures which are deliberately built to fool people into believing that the dungeon is "non-functioning", which essentially means it cannot supply the atmosphere with mana nor can it grow magic crystals to generate profit for those who own the land it's located in. There had been only a few of these structures found on Diacree continent. Their creators are unknown but each of them had valuable artifacts or other treasures found within them.
It's unknown who builds these structures that perfectly imitate real dungeons. One would suspect it's the gods who are responsible for building them. A fake dungeon could be a kind of first line of defense if you use puzzles, traps and monsters to impede intruders.
"Then we should assume this fake dungeon is a locked-down dungeon. Dungeons are treated as profitable regions by the populace. If they can't make money off it then they'll lock it down to avoid the monsters getting out. It's a rule that no one is to go inside them without permission by a region's fief lord. It's common knowledge from our world. How many of them do you think are in this world?"
"…I don't know. What I do know is that it would be unwise if we solely rely on the information this city provides." Arthur leaned against a shelf, "We can ask at an information branch in the adventurer's guild. Information brokers handle international information in our world so it should be the same here. They should have a special section for dungeons as well."
"You're right but if they're like the guilds from our world then it would be right to assume that the requirements to be granted that information is the exact same. The assholes back at the mercenary guild were even stingy to give me any sensitive information. You need to be higher ranked to have access to that kind of stuff."
"In most circumstances when one seeks valuable information, you either need to accept the information as a reward in a special quest or be high-ranking members of the guild. This will be troublesome. We can't just waste our time ranking up as adventurers in this world."
"You could just threaten all of them," Flora said with a shrug, "There's no doubt you're the strongest out of everyone in this city so why not take the brutish approach and demand they give you what you want or else? If you're not up for it then I guess I'll—"
"I could never do such a thing!" Arthur shouted back, "You're suggesting I harm the folk if they aren't compliant!"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting. If they don't give in when the sword is at their throat then what choice do we have? Or do you have some other idea?"
"…I'll have to speak with the others first…"
Flora rolled her eyes. Arthur noticed that.
"What's wrong with doing that?"
"You know, your cousin would've taken the easy approach if it meant getting out of this dungeon sooner."
'Don't you dare compare him to me…'
Arthur couldn't help but grimace.
Yes, Arnold would threaten the whole city if he were here. He'd even hurt people if they won't comply with his demands.
Maybe he'd even kill if he were here…
"What if we sneak into the guild at night?" Flora suggested again, "I walked past the guild last night when I went to the bar and noticed that there are only four guards in the front. There isn't a back door at the guild so we can enter through the roof or the sewers. Entering through the front by knocking out the guards would be idiotic since there are knight patrols as well."
"The roof it is then. That sounds like the best approach. There would be zero casualties. In case we get caught or pursued, it's best if everyone heads to the main camp outside the city."
They have about two camps spread throughout the region. Each camps splits its members into four teams. Each team takes a dungeon in the region to cover more ground quicker.
Flora and Arthur (and many others) are part of one of those teams. They came to the city to explore the dungeon which this city relies on for resources.
Alas, nothing interesting turned up so they were planning on heading back to the camp later today. Another reason for splitting up is because they're way too large of a group so they'll stand out a lot. It's best that a leader from each group rendezvous in a given location every few days, which is what they did last night. They do this to exchange information. Daraia gave the order for them to move to another region.
"If we find the documents we're looking for tonight then we might make it back home before the end of year ball…" Arthur thought out loud.
"Don't go daydreaming about your perfect graduation thingy. If those things guarding the holy sword thinks you're unworthy then we have a difficult fight ahead of us."
There's no way Arthur will be rejected, right…? He could feel it in his heart that he's worthy. His power should be another sign of his worthiness. Since coming to this world, he had grown exponentially stronger. He was probably two times stronger since entering the dungeon.
Maybe now he can eradicate the monster that killed so many of his comrades on the first floor? And maybe he can even defeata certain someone…
'No, I need to get the holy sword first before even thinking about fighting. I'll need to become even stronger.'
"Miss Daraia said the same thing," Arthur scratched his head, "It looks like I'm the only one who's confident that I'll be accepted…"
"That's called bigheadedness. You're too full of yourself just because you can use divine aura much better now than the first time you got it. Know your limitations and set your expectations low. If you can't do that then it's best if you leave the dungeon now."
Leaving means failing their examination since they didn't defeat every world boss in this dungeon. Of course, there's a rule in the exams that defeating the last world boss will also get you a passing grade.
Regardless of whether they leave the dungeon now or when Arthur gets the holy sword, they'll still fail. The academy might give them a chance to redeem themselves with another much easier dungeon. No, not might; the academy definitely will. They'll probably be able to clear an S-rank dungeon on their own given how strong every one of them became since coming here.
Fighting with monsters was inevitable since there are many aggressive monsters that attack on sight but they followed Arnold's advice and made sure no other creatures were in each vicinity where they killed the monsters. Sometimes they'd even bait the monsters to barren locations and kill them there.
Arthur had one of his classmates guard every portal to avoid letting monsters run through them.
Because everyone became so strong, it made Arthur more willing to leave the dungeon without clearing it since clearing another dungeon issued by the academy will be a breeze.
"Do you ever take your own advice, Miss Flora? Do you ever avoid fights that you're sure you can't win?"
She scoffed:
"I fight adversaries even if I know they're stronger than me. But instead of running, I give the fight everything I've got until I run out of options. Fighting is a contest of strength and skill not one or the other. If I can't win in strength then I'll do so in skill. I've learnt over a hundred body techniques. I'll be damned if I don't use every one of them to kill my opponent."
"So, even if you're weaker than someone, you still have the confidence that your combat abilities far exceed theirs?"
"Confidence? No. I continue fighting even if it's hopeless. I'll throw every technique I've ever learnt even if I don't have the confidence. If things get out of hand, then I'll use my trump cards. If even that fails, well, I'm running away."
She said the last part with zero shame.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not a warrior delusional about honor. I'm a swordsman who was taught to know my limits but try my best to exceed them and attain my true strength. While I'd fight even if the situation is hopeless, I'll still run if all my options fail to help me win."
'She's contradicting herself… Or maybe she has a different perspective of what honor and giving up means compared to people like me.'
Arthur might not be that different from Flora. If he can't win then it's best to flee. Who else will protect Anais after his death? He goes into fights while telling himself that he's fighting for her. His friends and everyone else are less important.
"Look, the two of us are different. We were raised different, taught different, had different masters… Don't seek guidance from someone walking a different path from you."
"May I ask which path that is…?"
Flora wordless picked up her rusty silver sword, "Becoming one with my weapon. It's a journey that not even my master had completed the last time he trained me. If he's still alive then maybe he already managed to do so…"
Arthur could see Flora's shoulder slump down and her brows crease.
'What kind of life did she live up until now…'
"If you're done with your report I'd like to get back to training." Flora put the sword back down and glared at Arthur.
"Ahaha, I'll be off then. I need to tell the others as well. Make sure you're ready to leave before noon. We'll join the camp outside the city then infiltrate the guild tonight once we have a solid strategy."
"I get it. Now get out." She shooed him away.
◇◇
Arthur bumped into someone familiar in the hallway after being kicked out of Flora's room.
Said person looked like a ghost. The bags under her eyes, which weren't as noticeable a few days ago, looked even worse now.
"Sabrina… We really need to get you to a doctor…" Arthur helped her lean on him since her cane didn't seem to be enough. Her body trembled a little. It wasn't that cold today and she was wearing warm clothes (her blazer and tights) so maybe the cold wasn't the issue…
"N-No, I can make it. If I can still cast spells then I'll continue to fight on!" she pumped her fist, "Evelyn and Madilith are worried. I hate seeing them like that. I know they care about me but…"
She lowered her head.
"Let's get you to the first floor." Arthur smiled, "Maybe seeing everyone will cheer you up a bit?"
She chuckled weakly, "Yeah…"
The two traveled down the stairs. Arthur was careful not to walk too fast.
No one knows how Sabrina got ill or what this illness was. Healers from Daraia's party found some kind of black smoke in Sabrina's body when they did an internal mana scan (sending their mana through one's body like sensory organs to detect various threats to the body). Despite knowing that the smoke was the reason for her illness, they had no idea how to get rid of it and heal her.
With Sabrina in this state, they can't assemble a full raid party. Hopefully there won't be a need for such a party since Arthur was confident that the holy sword's Guardians will hand the sword over without fighting them.
It's only been a few days (around the same time Pedick was taken back home by volunteer escorts) since she fell ill so they can't rule out that Sabrina will just recover on her own. She regularly heals herself as well, which relieves most of the pain and fatigue.
Sabrina and Arthur made it to the ground floor. They were greeted by their classmates who were gathered around a table. No one else was here since they rented out the inn for themselves. Turns out the treasure and gold they found in the Blight King's rooms were more than enough to enjoy this luxury.
Besides Arthur there were about four other guys around the table. There were five girls in total: Shirley, Madilith, Flora, Castacia, Sabrina (their professor) so that makes them a group of ten. Evelyn would've joined the group if Arthur didn't insist that she led another group on her own.
In any case, Hofir, Madilith, Shirley and Flora hadn't joined them yet. It was pretty obvious what the first two were up to ever since Hofir confessed to Madilith…
"Morning everyone." Sabrina greeted them cheerfully, but it was evident in her voice that she was forcing herself.
"Uhm, morning, dear." Castacia stood up and helped Sabrina over to a seat.
"Morning, Brina!" one of the guys, Hadd, a short guy with glasses, greeted Sabrina and immediately began asking how she felt.
Sabrina said with a smile "I'm fine. Not better or worse than yesterday, though, but thanks for your concern." The two of them were ex-lovers and had the same field of study (divine studies) so Hadd was naturally worried about her.
"Good to see you smiling, Sabrina." Charkley, a chubby but well-built tank of their party, patted Sabrina's shoulder, "Seeing your smile motivates me to keep getting up every day! I'll do my best to prioritize protecting you when we find ourselves surrounded by monsters!"
"Hey, now you can't protect me alone. You have to protect everyone too!" Sabrina smiled back at him.
Seeing that made Charkley's eyes flare with even more vigour, "Understood but I'll still protect that smile!"
"Stop it with the yelling, you big oaf. She probably has a headache already but you're making it worse."
A tall, muscular young man with flaming red hair spoke to Charkley, who was one of his best friends. He was almost built like Hofir, albeit a little smaller in height but had the same bulky frame.
"A-Ah! I'm sorry, Sabrina!" Charkley hit his head and hands on the table, almost causing the plates and glasses to fall over. That got him a slap to the head by Hans.
"N-No, it's fine, haha…" Sabrina patted his shoulder with a wry smile.
"So, what's the plan going forward, leader?" Hans turned to Arthur.
He was from the A-class, someone who Arthur didn't expect to join the B-class or be led by someone from the latter class.
The social hierarchy in the academy itself is non-existent but the A-class from every grade still thinks of themselves as superior. With people like Evelyn, Arnold, Adavire and Olivia coming out of those classes, it's not hard to see why. The A-class is filled with geniuses.
Arthur used to feel inferior to them but now he's confident he can stand next to them as equals. Not in academics but strength at least.
"We managed to conclude that what we're looking for is a Closed Dungeon, Hans."
The young man's name was Hans Ayried. He was Stella's cousin and Duke Draken Ayried's nephew.
He was also "Blessed by the Fire Spirit Monarch" like his other family members with the power to command red aura. His affinity for flame martial arts was second only to his uncle in the family. If Flame Lily had chosen him then he would've been made the Ayried Family's Heir. Alas, it is yet to choose anyone.
"…. And you're sure the Holy Sword is there?" Hans looked doubtful.
"The Lady Knight we met in the Elven City was asking around about a god's temple. We believe that the Titans must've built a fake dungeon above the sanctuary grounds to provide extra defences against those who want to invade the temple and take the sword."
"Closed dungeons do serve that kind of purpose," Castacia added, "The last one we discovered in our world held many treasures and secrets from ancient civilizations. Its primary purpose was to protect but we trampled on that purpose. It saddens me that we must do it yet again to ensure humanity has a chance to defeat the demons…"
"Do we know where to find this dungeon?" Castacia asked again.
"Not yet, professor. However, Flora suggested we try the information guild." Arthur looked back at the innkeeper who was busy counting money and leaned in closer, "We need to sneak into the guild tonight to look for a document with a list of closed dungeons. Chances are there aren't a lot of them around here so we shouldn't have to look long to find the closed dungeon we're looking for."
Usually, Castacia would've been shocked that Arthur would suggest they commit a crime which didn't fit his personality or beliefs but they were in a situation where they can't be picky. It beats hurting people at least.
"Closed dungeons are always unmaintained and located in areas filled with monsters… They hold no benefits for the populace so soldiers aren't dispatched to clear the entrances to allow adventurers to go inside." Castacia said with a frown, "We may be forced to fight monsters. Unlike in our world we can't just fight whatever monster we run into…"
"We'll just scare them away so a fight can be avoided," Arthur suggested.
"I hope that will work."
Arthur then addressed everyone at the table, "Remember, we'll be heading back to the main camp at noon, when the clock tower's bell rings. None of us are proficient in stealth. For that we need someone with an Assassin or Thief class with shadow abilities if possible. There are a few of them among Miss Daraia's adventurers so we should relay this information over to them and rely on them to help us. The rest of you should go buy yourselves equipment. The upcoming battle will be difficult if we aren't prepared."
"What about Sabrina? Do we just leave her at camp?" Hans looked at the wheezing Sabrina whose hands were trembling while holding up a mug.
"I-I'll be fine. I can still concentrate on buffing everyone." Sabrina said so with a smile.
Everyone at the table furrowed their brows.
"We're lost many of our friends after coming this far. We can't risk losing you too." Castacia shook her head, "We'll need to leave you at the camp until you're back to full health."
"B-But—"
"Please, Sabrina. Evelyn and Madilith won't say this but I will: you're only going to hurt us by pretending to be strong. We can see that you're suffering. I've seen the blood that you've wiped on your healer's robe. That's why you're not wearing it anymore, right?"
Sabrina loves to wear her healer's robe over her academy uniform. She had been doing this since she was a first year. She'll never take it off even when it's dirty. Since she's basically every teacher's favorite student, she had never been reprimanded for wearing it to class.
So, why was she not wearing it anymore?
"We can't let you follow us any further until we know what's wrong." Arthur spoke after Castacia, "If your symptoms get worse before we obtain the sword… Well, we'll have to take you back home..."
"…." Sabrina's shoulders drooped.
She had come a long way. She was everyone's reliable sister. She didn't just heal and buff the party when they needed it but she also acted as one of the beacons of the party that kept morale up. If she sees you grumpy then she'll tell you to cheer up with an infectious smile. Even these simple words from someone as bright as her ignited the passion in everyone's hearts.
A large grey cloud loomed over this group, watching her as she acts strong while secretly in pain.
Sabrina stood up silently. She opened her mouth a few times but ran out of the door instead of saying anything.
"Sabrina!" Castacia was about to chase after her but Arthur stopped her.
"Let's leave her for now. She needs time to think."
Castacia bit her lower lip but nodded in understanding.
"You're right…"